Showing Up and Doing Well in School Should Lead to Better Opportunity But It’s Not Always True

Low-income and minority students are not being challenged nearly as much as their White peers in high school, according to a new study produced by…

Episode 23: The Opportunity Myth

In this episode, we discuss The Opportunity Myth: a report by the TNTP dispels the myth that all students have the same opportunity to attain…

The Kids Aren’t Here for Half-Baked Schoolwork and Shady Politics

Outrage: If They Don’t Believe In Them, They Shouldn’t Be Teaching Them This was my story entering freshman year of college. Many students are earning…

Eighth-Graders Are Doing Fifth-Grade Work. No Wonder Our Kids Aren’t Ready for College.

I just read a report that, as a father, makes me question my own kid’s school. I mean, if these problems are happening in so…

Coffee Break: Tim Daly on How EdNavigator Helps Parents Make School Choice Work

Three years ago, Tim Daly and two colleagues left TNTP (The New Teacher Project) and launched a new effort called EdNavigator. The organization aims to…

We Can Make the First Year of Teaching Better. Here’s How.

When Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008, I was living in Chicago and working as a computer security engineer. After hearing Obama’s passionate…

I’m Sick of Being a Token, It’s Time for Some Real Student Voice

With the surge of student activism after the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, such as student walkouts, students have entered a critical moment: Are decision-makers finally…

Black Panther Proves That Our Kids Need More Black Superheroes, Both on the Screen and in the Classroom

I am looking forward to the premiere of “Black Panther” with the same excitement I bring to planning my birthday month. (Yes, I said month.)…

I’m 100% Here for a Parent’s Bill of Rights

In the world of public education that has now turned into a political arena for unions, school boards, state capitols, and ed reformers, parents often…

You Don’t Know a School Until You Know Its Community: Lessons From a Charter School Principal

As administrators, teachers, or any other sort of “expert” in education, we can often come into school communities thinking we know the answers, that we…